April 11th, 2010 The Smallmouth Bass are starting to bite all ready on Lake Erie off Buffalo, NY even with the water temperature only 36-39 degrees! My first trip of the year on Erie wound up being a success with landing 23 Football Smallies! The weather cooperated nicely wind 5-15 mph Southwest & West winds that produced a nice 1 foot chop most of the day. The only thing that kept the day from being a Fantastic Day was we lost more fish than we landed! We got the most action from Blade Baits (Vibe's, Silver Buddy's & XPS Blades), while a couple fell to Tubes and jigging spoons. There were a few fish on just about every spot I stopped on, with most fish relating to the back side of deep rock piles. If you don't mark them while scanning the area, don't bother fishing the structure, move on until you find a pod of fish to work over.
It was harder to find a place to launch your boat than to find some fish with the Foot of Sheridan Drive and Foot of Ontario Street your options in the Niagara River then running to Lake Erie or going out of Silver Creek/ Cattaraugus Creek out on the Lake. The Buffalo Smallboat Harbor, Erie Basin Marina, South End Marina and Sturgeon Point Marinas are still closed and probably won't be open until May.
I still have a few openings for spring Smallmouths if you want to catch some Hog Smallies give me a call 716-228-7334
Captain Barry Schultz www.captainbarry.com